2023 WikiTree Challenge 5: The week has ended to help research for North of Ireland Family History Society (NIFHS) [closed]

+48 votes
10.1k views

Hello WikiTreers!

Please join us for the next WikiTree Challenge week. For each challenge, we partner with another group in the worldwide genealogy community. Together we research seven degrees of connections for seven starting people chosen by our partner.

For challenge #5 our partner was the North of Ireland Family History Society, who promote and encourage the public and personal study of worldwide family history, genealogy, heraldry and local history with particular reference to the North of Ireland. They have a network of 10 branches throughout the North of Ireland and a worldwide membership.

Our week began Thursday, March 16th, at noon EDT (4pm UTC) and ended March 23rd, at noon EDT. You didn't need any particular skills to participate, so everyone was welcome to join us. If you did happen to have any experience with records from Ireland then your experience was especially valuable for this one! The locations for the starting profiles are Belfast, Northern Ireland, various other counties in Northern Ireland, England, California in the US, Quebec City, Canada East, and Estepona, Spain. Even if you didn't register in time, you are welcome to help.

We love to show our friends what genealogy collaboration can accomplish! Let's rock this!

We posted any new connections to the global tree to the ancestor posts below. You could also comment there with interesting finds, questions, and research progress.

 (comments at the top will be hidden once read).

closed with the note: Thank you for participating! See you for the next challenge.
in The Tree House by Mindy Silva G2G Astronaut (1.1m points)
closed by Mindy Silva

159 Answers

+15 votes

William (Millar) Boyd (1931-1977) was an Irish actor who came to the acting stage as an adult. He appeared in about 60 films, most notably as Messala in Ben-Hur (1959) which earned him the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Connection Bounty: Bounty claimed on this line!!

Brick Wall AncestorArthur Boyd (abt. 1800) County Antrim, Ireland

by Mindy Silva G2G Astronaut (1.1m points)
edited by Mindy Silva

I connected his wife Elizabeth https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Mills-25088 to https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Groombridge-466 Alice Groombridge, daughter of https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Groombridge-384.  I would like someone who can see the marriage record of Alice and Alfred Last to see the parents of Alice.  The birth year of Alice matches, but I cannot see the image to verify if it's the right Alice.  The last name at Birth of Elizabeth needs to be changed to Last.

Thanks, Carol-Lynn

Great work Carol-Lynn!

Brick Wall Ancestor: Claimed

I added his paternal grandmother's parents and their fathers.

And his paternal great great grandfathers.

You are doing a great job Valerie! 

We'll announce who the selected brick wall ancestors are this weekend. laugh

Carol--I uploaded 2 images to Alice's page.  I hope they help confirm her parents.  The images were on Ancestry.
Thank you for your help with the birth.  We still need to confirm if this particular Alice is the correct Alice that married Alfred Last.  If someone could find images to look for her parents named on a marriage record, obituary or death record etc. to link them that would confirm her relationship.
Nice collaboration Susan and Carol-Lynn!
Based on the marriage cert of John Boyd and Mary Cowan--her father is listed as William Cowan.  I added him to the tree
According to Google Stephen Boyd played Messala in Ben-Hur. He was a Northern Irish actor who appeared in 60 films.

There is a Wm Boyd who played Hopalong Cassidy but Millar was not his middle name.

Regards

Anne
This detail added to profile.

Stephen Boyd (born William Millar; 4 July 1931 – 2 June 1977) was a Northern Irish actor. He appeared in some 60 films, most notably as the villainous Messala in Ben-Hur (1959), a role that earned him the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture. He received his second Golden Globe Award nomination for Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962). He also appeared, sometimes as a hero and sometimes as a malefactor, in the major big-screen productions Les bijoutiers du clair de lune (1958), The Bravados (1958), Imperial Venus (1962), The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), Genghis Khan (1965), Fantastic Voyage (1966) and Shalako (1968).

Stephen Boyd was born on 4 July 1931 in Glengormley, County Antrim,[1] in a house on the Doagh Road, Whitehouse.[2] He was the youngest of nine siblings born to Irish-Canadian parents, James Alexander Millar and his wife Martha Boyd. At a very early age, William, or Billy as he was known, moved with the family to live in Glengormley.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Boyd
Nice work Susan, Anne and Valerie!
+15 votes

Henry George Ferguson (1884 - 1960) was a Irish mechanic and inventor who is noted for his role in the development of the modern agricultural tractor and its three point linkage system, for being the first person in Ireland to build and fly his own aeroplane, and for developing the first four-wheel drive Formula One car, the Ferguson P99.

Connection Bounty: Bounty claimed on this line!!

Brick Wall AncestorJoseph Bell (1821 - 1896) County Down, Ireland Solved!!!

by Mindy Silva G2G Astronaut (1.1m points)
edited by Mindy Silva
I added his paternal grandfather https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Ferguson-21400

There's an interesting NZ link to Ferguson. Sir Edmund Hillary, Derek Wright and Murray Ellis arrived at the South Pole in their Ferguson tractors on 4 January 1958. https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/dash-pole-tractors They were the first to do so overland since Scott in 1912, and the first to reach it in motor vehicles. 

One of the actual tractors used is in the Canterbury Museum. https://collection.canterburymuseum.com/objects/9331/tractor-massey-ferguson

I added his daughter, Elizabeth (Ferguson-21401). She married a man named Anthony John Sheldon in Dec 1950, but this may not have been his name at birth, so I did not create a profile for him yet. Research note added.
Thanks Linda! Very interesting Maureen! Good work Kathy. Thanks for leaving research notes!
Congrats Lucy! Nice work on the connections!
Brick wall ancestor claimed - Joseph Bell's father Henry has been added.
I'm completely new to WikiTree and interested to see what sorts of research people do into County Down (where my paternal grandparents were from).  Found an interesting view of the Harry Ferguson Memorial Garden (across the street from his birthplace) on Google Maps.  To become familiar with the editing process, I added a link in the Research Notes section.  Hope I did things correctly.

Apparently Henry’s daughter Elizabeth (Ferguson-21401) was an active participant in her father’s tractor business before she married in 1950. A writeup of her marriage to Anthony J Sheldon noted that “The bride, in her twenties, went to Denmark and Italy last year as a director of two of her father's companies to sell tractors and returned with a full order book.” 

Nice work on the brick wall Martin! Thanks for working on that Doug. Have you joined us in Discord to see chat about research? Thanks for the info Kathy!

+16 votes

Seamus Justin Heaney (1939 - 2013) was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. American poet Robert Lowell described him as "the most important Irish poet since Yeats."

Connection Bounty: Bounty claimed on this line!!

Brick Wall AncestorPeter Scullion (abt. 1830) County Londonderry, Ireland

by Mindy Silva G2G Astronaut (1.1m points)
edited by Mindy Silva
Connection to the main tree:  Sheasgreen-13 to Sheasgreen-9  CC9/10.
WooHoo Celia! Thanks!!
FYI: I revised the estimated birth year for Peter Scullion to 1825, based on his daughter's estimated birth year.
+15 votes

John Wilson Kyle (1926 - 2014) attended the Belfast Royal Academy, where he excelled at boxing, cricket and rugby. He studied medicine at Queen's University of Belfast. He was awarded the OBE in 1958, the same year he played his last international match. He retired from club rugby in 1963. 

Connection Bounty: Bounty claimed on this line!!

Brick Wall AncestorCatherine (Kincade) Halliday (abt. 1834 - abt. 1910) Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland  Solved!!!

by Mindy Silva G2G Astronaut (1.1m points)
edited by Mindy Silva

Brick Wall Ancestor: Claimed.

Added his mother's parent's, their parents and their fathers.

I think I have connected John Wilson Kyle to the tree. Through his brother-in law Noel Henderson. His sister Louise Mary married Scott Huey. His aunt Charlotte Margaret (Huey) Lynch was in Wikitree. She had emigrated to the USA with her husband in 1922. Hopefully it will all connect.
WooHoo Maureen! Nice work!
I have created another connection from Jack Kyle to the main tree by adding https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Orpen-144 who is five degrees from Jack Kyle, and whose father has been on WikiTree since 2017 and is connected: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Orpen-33
Thanks Paddy! I love seeing how much closer this connection keeps getting!
There were 2 Ireland Rugby Internationals in this challenge. Jack Kyle and his brother-in-law Noel Henderson. They played for both the Ireland National Rugby Union Team and the British & Irish Lions team. I have set up a free space page which lists the players in the Ireland National Rugby Union Team up to 1950. The page is based on Campbell Braddocks NZ All Blacks page, and thanks to Melanie Paul's help with the images we have stickers that can be added to the profiles that we identify as rugby players in the Ireland National Rugby team and if they were selected for the Lions team. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Ireland_National_Rugby_Union
I have added and connected a profile for Jack Myles:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Myles-987

However, as I am not on the Trusted List of the free space page, I cannot create the link to his profile.

Note also that the sticker does not display properly in preview mode: "..." appears where the name appears in the final version.  I wish I had looked at the final version before wasting half an hour playing around trying to get the preview to work!
I have changed the Ireland Rugby Page to 'open' and will add a notes to say that the name on the sticker won't display in preview mode.
Myles is now linked to his profile.  Many thanks.
Thanks for the help Maureen!
+16 votes

Robert William Moore (1952 - 2011) was a Northern Irish musician. Over the course of his career he performed a range of music including blues, blues rock, hard rock, heavy metal, and jazz fusion. Moore was often described as a virtuoso and has been cited as an influence by many other guitar players.

Connection Bounty: Bounty claimed on this line!!

Brick Wall AncestorWilliam James Gallagher (1882 - 1940)  Liverpool, Lancashire, England  Solved!!!

by Mindy Silva G2G Astronaut (1.1m points)
edited by Mindy Silva
Is connected. A fairly convoluted path via his grandfathers sister's husband's father.

Robert James Gallagher Gallagher-7777

sister Mary Ellen Tweedie Gallagher-7782

Husband Thomas Herbert Tweedie Tweedie-743

His father also Thomas Herbert TWeedie Tweedie-283 was already connected.
Nice work Gillian!!

He had an uncle named Cliff (not sure what side). I added this to his bio "His eldest son Jack and his uncle Cliff performed the Irish ballad "Danny Boy" at his funeral. This was reported in The Belfast Telegraph as "a flawless tribute at which some mourners in the church wept openly"

wow Rich, what touching words!!
Can I have the link to that profile Richard?
I did not create a profile for Uncle Willie. There was too much confusion on the internet about Willie, I found a Belfast Telegraph article that mentions the song but not Willie, and one story has Willie as his brother,

Should I add that to research notes for Robert William "Gary" Moore profile?

+15 votes

William James Pirrie (1847 - 1924) was an Irish shipbuilder who was in charge of Harland and Wolff when the passenger liner Titanic was built. In the months leading up to the 1912 Titanic disaster, Lord Pirrie was questioned about the number of lifeboats aboard the Olympic-class ships. He responded that the great ships were unsinkable and the rafts were to save others.

Connection Bounty: Bounty claimed on this line!!

Brick Wall AncestorAnna Eliza (Neill) Montgomery (1790 - 1875) County Antrim, Ireland

by Mindy Silva G2G Astronaut (1.1m points)
edited by Mindy Silva

Added profiles for parents of William's wife, Margaret Montgomery (Carlisle) Pirrie (1857-1935) and a grandfather, Alexander Montgomery.

New connection on this tree:  Baker-16441 to Baker-33569  at the CC7/8 mark.
Great work Steve and Celia!
I added a few profiles which cut my distance from Pirrie from 25 degrees to 16 degrees: https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Special:Connection&action=connect&person1Name=Pirrie-27&person2Name=Waldron-201&relation=0

I added Viscount Pirrie's uncle William Pirrie-99 and then Uncle William's granddaughter's husband William Bradley-18621, whose father was already connected.

Does this count for bounty points?
I saw that big change in distances, Paddy. Great Work!!
William Hesketh was connected to his father Thomas Manley Hesketh  (Hesketh-340)

and Thomas Hesketh connected to his wife Betty Manley (Manley-2399)
Nice work Liz!!
The inter-related families of Andrews, Barbour and Pirrie have made many notable contributions to the industrial and political life of what is now Northern Ireland, both before and after the partition of Ireland in the 1920s. See https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:The_interlinked_Andrews%2C_Barbour_and_Pirrie_dynasties_of_Northern_Ireland
+15 votes

Ruby Florence Murray (1935 - 1996) was a Northern Irish singer, and one of the most popular singers in the British Isles in the 1950s.

Connection Bounty: Bounty claimed on this line!!

Brick Wall AncestorDaniel Murray (abt. 1835) Ireland  Solved!!!

by Mindy Silva G2G Astronaut (1.1m points)
edited by Mindy Silva

Brick Wall Ancestor: Added her mother's parents and their fathers.

Murray is connected, think this was first connection, but made two other connections since.

 
Murray-26782 60 70 Silva-1055 da yes
1 Connolly-3784 60 71 Marsh-9608 da yes
2 Connolly-3796 60 72 Moffett-824 da
3 Pollock-4057 60 73 Nix-195 da
4 Pollock-4060 60 74 Nix-195 da
5 Gonderman-13 60 75 Stevenson-3628 da
6 Swonger-77 60 76 Stevenson-3628
7 Swonger-76
Great S! Nice work on the connections!
+22 votes
Sign me up, please!
by Feargal Hennigan G2G6 Mach 8 (86.3k points)
Thanks for joining us again, Feargal.
+21 votes
Please sign me up for this challenge. I have family from Northern Ireland and have been able to use resources from many organizations. But hit a wall with my maternal great grandparents. Would love help. Thanks!
by Kathy Smith G2G3 (3.4k points)
Kathy - Great to have you and your experience Kathy. You will have a great time.
+21 votes
I will be joining and we will do great like always.
by Kathy Nava G2G6 Pilot (419k points)
Thanks for joining us again, Kathy.
+21 votes
Count me in too!
by Celia Marsh G2G6 Pilot (103k points)
Glad you are joining us for another week, Celia.
+21 votes
Please add me, thanks!
by Elaine Martzen G2G6 Pilot (242k points)
So great to have you joining us for another Challenge week, Elaine.
+20 votes
I am in  on this Thanks
by Eric Fulton G2G Crew (890 points)
Hi Eric. It is great to have you join us in this week's challenge. You will have a great time.
+20 votes
I have a James Leeper (Lepper) wife Margaret and James' brother Robert that were from Belfast, County Down, Ireland, whom emigrated to the US in 1738, I'd like to learn how to work the old records and where- this might be a good way to learn.
by Doug Leeper G2G6 (6.3k points)
Doug, thanks for joining us - I always learn something new in the weekly challenges. I am sure you will too!
+21 votes
Hi, I believe my family is originally from Northern Island in the 17th century. Isaac Aliby from Belfast area sailed to America in 1769. He is found to be a farmer in New jersey in 1775 when he joined the Patriot Army.Let me know what I have to do?
by Stanley Allaby G2G1 (1.2k points)
Stanley, thank you for joining us. The weekly challenge is the same as researching  your own family, except we have seven profiles that we start on and research/source to find as many family members as we can. You will have a great time and it is an awesome learning experience.
+20 votes
I would like to participate please.
by Rosalie Neve G2G6 Pilot (182k points)
Thanks for joining us again, Rosalie - it is great to have you.
+20 votes

I'm in for this challenge smiley 

by Heather Jenkinson G2G6 Pilot (146k points)
Great to be working with you on another challenge, Heather.
+20 votes

What a great opportunity for those of us with Northern Ireland ancestors and limited experience researching this area! I'd love to help. 

Pick my ancestors   Pick my ancestors   Pick my ancestors    Pick my ancestors  Pick my ancestors   Pick my ancestors   Pick my ancestors    Pick my ancestors   Pick my ancestors

by Lucy Selvaggio-Diaz G2G6 Pilot (985k points)
Thanks for joining in Lucy! I love how much I've learned during the challenges.
+20 votes
I'll try to help - thanks!
by Karen Lowe G2G6 Pilot (207k points)
That's great Karen! We're always happy to have you.
+20 votes
Not all that familiar with Irish records but will help where I can, maybe with the Eastern Canada, Quebec City or England profiles!
by Donna Henley G2G6 Mach 3 (31.4k points)
Thanks for joining us, Donna! We do have one starter that was in Quebec City.

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